KUALA LUMPUR: Award-winning actress Sharifah Amani said that the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) should focus its attention on the many other issues in the local film industry.
She said this when asked to comment on suggestion by Finas’ chief executive officer Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nadzri on the need for the government to regulate digital content of streaming service, including Netflix.
Sharifah Amani, 33, said that an experienced industry player like Ahmad Idham should instead look at bigger issues plaguing the local film scene.
And furthermore, she said, the issue of content would not see a solution, and it would continue to be there in years to come.
“This issue has been brought up in the past. At the time it concerned content on television. And it looks like it has cropped up yet again, only now it is on the form of streaming service. I think it is best that Finas focus at resolving bigger issues in the industry which are affecting us like royalty and budget.
“I’m just worried about what will happen to the industry and us if we continue to be stagnant. Other countries have progressed, but we are still so worked up over petty issues like this,” she added.
Sharifah Amani said that platforms like Netflix would have their own security feature for subscribers to use as a mean to control their young charges (or they themselves) from watching contents only suitable for mature viewers.
“As users, we have the option to control what we want to watch. Better still, don’t subscribe at all if what Netflix offers aren’t your cup of tea. You can choose other streaming services that would suit you better,” she said.
Recently, Ahmad Idham who attended the 2019 Families’ Wellbeing seminar at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) tweeted that he would take into consideration the concerns by parents in the cyber era about uncensored content.
He wrote: “What I proposed was for some form of collaboration between Finas and the National Council of Women's Organisations to hold a forum or seminar to debate this issue in the context of strengthening digital content in the future.”
Ahmad Idham also clarified that Finas had no authority to censor digital content.
“In the context of digital content, Finas will always seek out the best ways to strengthen local content so that it will provide a positive impact to society as well as the country,” he said.